1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to devices to facilitate the removal of ashes from ash pits of furnaces or stoves. The problem addressed by such removal devices is that ash normally is extremely lightweight or low in density such that a disturbing of ash produces a floating debris which is difficult to confine and often results in spoiling the surrounding environment such as the living room adjacent to a fire place or wood burning stove. Of course the problem only deals with those types of stoves, furnaces or fire places which do not have their own ash removal conduit therebelow or somewhere therein. However, with most stoves it is necessary to actually remove the ash through an ash door in order to discard the ash as necessary.
A particular problem arises with this types of stoves and furnaces wherein the combustion chamber and the ash pit are a single location. That is, in some types of stoves or furnaces a grate is utilized which holds the combustible materials at a location elevated with respect to the ash pit. In such stove configurations the ash pit and the combustion chamber are not in the same location, namely, the combustion chamber is immediately above the grate whereas the ash pit is located therebelow. In other types of devices and in particular, wood burning stoves, the ash pit and the combustion chamber are in the same location due to the absence of usage of a grate. It is this type of stove or furnace to which the present invention is directed. This invention does not relate to those types of devices usable with stoves having the coals or combustible materials separated from the ash. The most particular type of device wherein the ash pit and the combustion chamber are in one location is a wood burning stove wherein combustible wood to be burned is placed directly into the ash. With this configuration, the present invention is particularly usable since the tool means includes a rake section having teeth therein which when moved rearwardly will separate coals from the ash. The tool means also includes a hoe section which can, after separation of the ash from the coals, can pull the ash up the inclined ramp into the retaining chamber of the present invention.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many types of devices have been designed and patented to remove ashes in a dustless fashion such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 879,622; 670,767; 631,812; 1,095,276; 767,648; and 1,767,312. All of these devices however are distinguishable from the present invention since they are designed particularly for usage with stoves or furnaces having multiple sections wherein one section is designed above the grate as the combustion chamber and another section is designed below the grate as the ash pit. The present invention is not designed to be particularly usable with such stoves and furnaces.